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Henri Bendel's holiday windows bring to life the illustrations of Al Hirschfeld, whose drawings of celebrities and Broadway performers ran in the New York Times for over seventy years, as well as many other notable titles.
This year, Hirschfeld's drawings of Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Woody Allen, Sarah Jessica Parker, Carol Channing, Whoopi Goldberg, Liza Minnelli, and Bernadette Peters were all transformed into sculptures by Tom Carroll Scenery for the Bendel windows.
Inside, Hirschfeld's rendition of Charlie Chaplin sits atop a two-story malachite tree. You can also find an exhibit of his drawings throughout the store. Check out thirteen whimsical photos of the holiday windows after the jump, as well as why each of the characters included in the fantasy dinner party were chosen, as explained by Henri Bendel's Associate VP of Visual Gilberto Santana.
How did you pick the characters?
That was hours of trying to pick out what the perfect table would be. We tried to make sure that everyone had some sort of relation to New York. For example, Audrey Hepburn; though she's not a New Yorker, Breakfast at Tiffany's is by far one of the most New York movies there is, and she resembles that.
What made you decide to put Charlie Chaplin on top of the tree?
We didn't want to use anyone that's alive, because it's almost like putting someone on a throne and glorifying them more than others. But you can go anyplace in the world, and everyone knows who Charlie Chaplin is. He was an innovator in film, and so was Henri Bendel. We decided it should be a character that's an innovator in his own right, and that's why we picked him.
· This Year's Department Store Holiday Windows [Racked NY]
· All Holiday 2013 Window Coverage [Racked NY]
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